N'Zogbia was brought in from Wigan over the summer to help fill the gap left by the departures of Ashley Young and Stewart Downing but has struggled to show his best form after a promising start. The Frenchman has even been left out of the starting line-up in some recent matches, but Petrov is convinced he will eventually win over his critics.

"A lot of people are on his back but we believe in him. We have seen in training what he can do," said Petrov.

"Sometimes people need a longer time to settle in. But we won't give up on this boy because he is an important player for us. He will come good.

"He has been working hard and is looking sharper.

"We have a talent here and it will come a point where he starts playing well and scoring goals.

"We are patient with him. He will come good."

Petrov believes Villa also need time to gel their new-look squad this season.

He said: "People forget we lost two valuable players [Young and Downing] in the summer and we've got new players. We've got a lot of young players that people say need to go straight into the team.

"Sometimes young players need time but they've been pushing, they've been trying. We all support them and we hope to start playing better and make the fans even happier."